Everything about his new teammate just seemed off.
It may have had something to do with the fact that his new teammate was shorter than both himself and Sakura.
It also could've been the fact that they wore a large, oversized and hooded cloak and mask. Or that they reeked of the smell of freshly spilt blood.
Really, it could've been any of those things that made them seem a bit creepy.
Sasuke was betting on the mask, too.
It was like a square in shape, with a single horn protruding from the upper right corner of the mask and two horns from the upper left. It also had two large black circles for eyes, making it difficult to tell what the actual eye color of his new teammate was.
Kakashi smiled.
"This is… N, right?"
The short figure briefly nodded. It was then that Sasuke could barely make out the dark outline of a few chains hanging down from under the cloak.
He grunted and kept glaring at the figure.
"Now, now, Sasuke, I'm detecting high levels of sass from you. Fix it before I fix it for you. And trust me when I say this, you won't like it if I have to fix it for you," Kakashi scolded. After a brief pause, he looked at 'N' thoughtfully, "You know, Sasuke, if it makes you feel better, the Chuunin exams start tomorrow. You have enough time to spar to test the strength of your teammate."
That got his attention.
He considered it.
In an exam full of people that were 15 years old and older, including himself and Sakura, he didn't want to be stuck with yet another useless teammate. It couldn't hurt to check.
"Fine."
That was how he ended up standing 20 meters away from "N."
"Begin."
Sasuke dashed forwards, slinging a handful of kunai at N, hoping that the distraction would be enough to close the distance between himself and his opponent.
The distraction, it seemed, was not needed.
Sasuke was able to close the gap with ease and decided to lead with a punch to the face. What he didn't expect, however, was that N would, at the very last second, bend backwards at 90 degrees and seemingly vanish.
He wasn't sure if his eyes were lying to him or not. He could've sworn that N was hovering a few centimeters off the ground before they vanished. Turning around quickly to scan his surroundings, he found N just standing a few meters behind him.
Launching a series of attacks, between punches and kicks, throwing kunai and shuriken, a few exploding tags, and even a fireball, Sasuke grew more frustrated after each failed attempt to hit N even once. Every time, just before N was about to take damage, they would seemingly vanish and reappear a few meters away behind or off to the side of Sasuke.
He stood still, glaring at the shorter figure.
Their head then snapped to the right and the sound of bones popping was audible to Sasuke.
N spoke in a whisper, "Is that all you have, Uchiha?"
He narrowed his eyes as N readjusted their head.
N seemingly skated through the air, reaching Sasuke nearly in an instant, before rearing upwards into the air. They extended a leg whilst crouching midair before being slung to the side. Sasuke barely managed to duck to avoid the random spinning kick.
He was forced to constantly dodge, especially after a kick missed and hit the ground. Normally, that would be a good thing, but N's kicks could make small craters in the ground. Sasuke knew that if he got hit by N, even a couple times, he would lose.
N kept skating and sliding through the air at unpredictable angles before launching forwards with a spinning kick or an axe kick. They could bend at impossible angles, angles that a human shouldn't be able to physically bend at, to dodge any attack, along with the strange flying.
Sasuke was glad to catch a break when N backed off, appearing 20 meters away. That is, he thought he could catch a break.
From inside their cloak, N withdrew a curved short sword. The design was simple, yet it was more like a sickle than an actual sword. Crouching down and holding the sword in a reverse grip, N whispered the name of their technique.
"Dance of the Executioner."
Flashing white once, N's only warning to Sasuke to dive to the left proved to save his life. Where he just was, Sasuke could see after images of N appearing and slicing through empty air hundreds of times in the span of a few seconds.
He knew that if he got caught in that, he would end up as minced meat. Even he, the last of the Uchiha, knew when to call it quits.
"I forfeit."
It was a good thing, too, since N had just appeared in front of him with their blade at his neck, frozen in the air by his surrender.
Kakashi waved at them, "I'm going home. I expect to see the three of you on time tomorrow."
Turning back to N, Sasuke noticed that the blade had vanished, and that N was no longer floating in the air.
"What was that technique?"
In yet another whisper, N asked, "Which one?"
"How did you fly?"
"I can't."
"Let me rephrase this: how did you float?"
N nodded, "Air skating. I can hover a few centimeters above the ground to sharply increase my speed. I am able to control whatever direction I'm going in without worrying about momentum."
N's voice, albeit a whisper, sounded monotone and robotic.
"Your name isn't N, is it?"
They lifted their head slightly, so that the large painted black circles stared at his eyes.
"Shizu Uzumaki, 012607, designation N."